Mr. Rakesh Shah, Chairman, EEPC in a press briefing in Kolkata announced that “exhibitions like INDEE – St Petersburg go a long way in increasing business interactions between two countries while creating an opening for emerging business opportunities in the near future.”

INDEE-St Petersburg 2008 is the 18th in the series of such exhibition organised by EEPC and will be held from 11th to 14th March 2008 at St Petersburg, Russia. The Exhibition is organised in association with Petersburg Technical Fair (PTF) 2008 which is organised by Restec Exhibition Company. Established in 1990, RESTEC is one of Russia’s top five exhibition companies, holding over 100 events both within the country and overseas on an annual basis. India has been declared partner country in this exhibition.

Mr Shah said that “this exhibition is being held at the most opportune time when “Year of Russia” is being celebrated in India in 2008 while “Year of India” will be celebrated in Russia in 2009 to further strengthen all-round strategic partnership between the two nations.

“The first day of the fair will be devoted to Indian industry to commemorate the Year of Russia, which is now under way in India,’ informed Mr Igor Kirsanov, Director General of the Restec Company.

During the 4 day event, EEPC will sign two Memoranda of Understandings with St Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Leningrad Chamber of Commerce to fromalise various methods of exchange of business and commercial information benefiting the engineering community of both the countries.

The Exhibition will be inaugurated by Deputy Governor of St Petersburg Mr Mikhail Oseyevsky on 11th March 2008. India’s Ambassador to Russia H.E. Mr Prabhat P Shukla will also be present on this occasion. The Exhibition will be held at Lenexpo Fair Grounds, Gavan in St Petersburg where Council has booked 2800 sq meters of space in Hall No. 8 A.

EEPC organizes Indian Engineering Exhibitions - branded as INDEE in various focused markets with an objective to showcase India's rapid progress in the engineering sector and assist Indian exporters to reach overseas buyers. The participation of various eminent trading communities of different countries result in recommendation and further implementation on the strategies required to increase trade relations between these countries.

Regarding Russia’s selection as the exhibition venue, where EEPC is going for the 1st time, Mr Shah said that Russian economy is growing steadily and clocked an average annual growth rate of 6.7% in 2008 for the 8th time in continuation. Since 2003-04, increase in consumer demand and investments have played a significant role in this surge. A number of important reforms in the areas of tax, banking, labour and land codes have raised investors’ confidence leading to surge in FDI in Russia, he added.

Russia and India enjoy long standing historic relations. Immediately prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, India was the largest trading partner. There has been resurgence in trade between the two countries since 2003-04. Indian engineering exports to Russia amounted to US$ 123.54 million in 2006-07 which is 48% higher compared to US$ 83.26 million engineering exports registered in 2005-06. In 2003-04 India exported engineering items worth US$ 51.58 million to Russia.

The Chairman informed that potential growth areas for Indian exports to Russia are – Manufactures of Metals, Machinery and Instruments, Transport Equipments, Machine Tools, items or Iron and Steel etc. The huge Indian delegation to the fair in St Petersburg is a clear indication that Indian companies are interested in cooperation with their Russian counterparts. He said that Indian companies are keen on supplying car parts for the automobile assembly plants in Russia as the automotive industry is on the boom.

It is important to note here that Toyota launched its assembly plant in 2007 and General Motors in February this year. Nissan, Suzuki and Hyundai will also set up their ventures soon while Ford already has its plant in the Leningrad region.

Around 145 Indian companies will be in spotlight when they showcase their products at this international trade fair which include among others, leading names from the Indian corporate like Tata Motors, Bajaj International, Eveready Industries, Hilton Metal, Sharp Tools, Kundan Industries and many other leading small and medium enterprises.

According to Mr Oseyevsky, Indian businessmen are also interested in cooperation in the IT and metallurgical sectors in Russia.

India’s Sharp Tools and Russia’s Elslar are likely to sign an agreement for a joint venture company named Esweld to manufacture components for welding operations in the Elektrostal region near Moscow.

Mr Shah noted that these exhibitions are primarily meant to project to the overseas buyers about transformation of the Indian engineering industry from a supplier of low value, labour intensive products to technologically advanced items comparable with the products from the developed nations.